Hi Landshark
Do yourself a favour one day. Leave your speargun in the car and take a swim out to the small blinder in the reserve to the right of Millers point and see what False Bay should really look like. Helps if the water is above 12 degrees but even in ice the fish are still abundant even sizable Bankies which are almost extinct in False Bay besides at Whittle, not 1 but shoals of 4 -5 fish. [/i]
(Take a swim in any well protected MPA that has been in existence 20 years plus if you get the opportunity)[/i]
It's difficult to appreciate what is going on if you haven't seen what it was like before fishing took place (line, spear, what ever all combined), especially False Bay (used to dive it from one side to the other 3 times a week sometimes).
The other problem is the more you dive an area the better you get to know the hot spots and as a result the more you begin to see which doesn't necessarily mean their is more around, you have just got better at avoiding the areas that are devoid of life.
Indecently ORI has done research in Natal on Spearfishing. If my memory serves me correctly spearos account for about 1% of the line fish catch in Natal and of that 1 percent roughly half are made up of game fish.
But before we pat ourselves on the back this result is skewed due the weather and poor viz, go dive an area like the Aliwal shoal -Scotburgh area which probably receives the most spearing pressure in SA (due to the water being clean more often) by some of SA most proficient spearo’s you will see what Spearfishing can do.
Their are hardly an edible reef fish (non line species Bankies, Rubber lips, tassles, knifejaws so we can’t blame line fishing) above 800g above the 22m mark. Past 22m fish start appearing because the average jappie can’t clap them that deep. (Yes the local okes have some spots shallower that produce but lets face it their is loads of good reef that has nothing on in 18 -20m).
I used to dive a hell of a lot but now I only get 4 weeks a year to dive (mostly east of St Francis into Moz) and most places I dive I have noticed a reduction in size and abundance of Fish. (and even if my catch is one resident fish in that area I must shoulder a portion of the blame even if small) In some places it has been drastic others not so bad. I’ve also got older and fatter so that may contribute to me seeing less fish!
Last I was diving Arniston and the Garden route (2003) stumps were abundant (if you had the urge you could have shot your 5 a day, I often did) now the Bag limit is one per day. Even had a day in False Bay when my boat took 7. When last has somebody shot a Stump in False Bay?
Haven’t been down your side for a while but I would be interested to know if the Stumps are still full up at Arniston? (even saw a 5kg one on Roman rock once)
The one good thing about Spearfishing is that you can choose what you going to take home i.e. no bi –catch. I used to clap the fish and didn’t go home until my quota was full. These days I only shoot what I eat in a few weeks e.g. now I shoot 1 x 10kg Cracker instead of 2 Cracker and five Parrots, 2 Bronzies and what ever else is available to fill my limit. A competent spearo in good conditions (outside of False Bay) can still fill quota quite easily off a boat)
Don’t get me wrong if you can eat 10 tail (fast growing, stock status good) by all means do so but the reality is a good number of the guys clapping the tail sell them (unless things have changed since I left CT, not being self righteous sold some myself).
Problem is if you see fish in Rands and Cents you will never get to the stage where you will let one swim past the end of your gun.
Likewise you can’t expect everybody to adopt my point of view “Limit their catch instead of catching their limitâ€. A lot of education is involved and some people have the attitude of I’ll get mine before somebody else will.
